Dogs Don’t Lie

I am a big fan of animal-centric mysteries. My favorite authors include Spencer Quinn and Susan Conant, who both write series revolving around dogs. After reading Dogs Don’t Lie, I can add Clea Simon to my ever-growing list of series to follow.

Dogs Don’t Lie centers around the murder of Charles, owner of a pit bull named Lily (a.k.a. Tetris). The murder is staged to appear that Lily killed Charles. Animal psychic and behaviorist, Pru Marlowe, works as Lily’s trainer and finds Charles’ body during a routine training session. Recognizing Lily’s innocence, Pru must search for the true murderer in order to get Lily off the hook for murder and save her from certain euthanasia.

As a pit bull advocate, I was hooked right away. Simon did not disappoint in her portrayal of Lily as a sweet, loving dog that would never hurt anyone. Hooray to Simon for this portrayal of the breed!

The story took many twists and turns with lots of suspects and animals thrown into the mix. Pru communicates with the animals in the story – cats, dogs, birds and a lovable ferret named Frank. While it may seem hokey for animals to “talk,” Clea Simon handles the subject matter very well. I will definitely check out the next book in the Pru Marlowe series and also plan to check out Simon’s Theda Krakow series.

My rating: 4 stars

Description:

Pru Marlowe isn’t your ordinary animal psychic. A tough girl on the run from her own gift, Pru left the big city to return to her picturesque Berkshires hometown looking for a little peace. Too bad that her training as an animal behaviorist got her mixed up with Lily, a rescue dog, and Charles, her person. Now Charles is dead, and Lily looks good for it. After all, Lily is a pitbull, a fighting-ring dropout, and way too traumatized to give Pru a clear picture of what she has witnessed. But Pru knows something about bad girls trying to clean up, and, with a sense of justice strong enough to overcome her dislike of human society, she takes the case. Listening to the animals, Pru picks up clues – and learns there are secrets in the pretty little town that make murder look simple. Unable to tell anybody about her psychic abilities, uncertain at times about her own sanity, Pru comes to realize that if she clears Lily, she’ll likely become the prime suspect – or the next victim. While the only creature she can totally trust is her crotchety tabby Wallis, Pru’s got to uncover the real killer – and find a way to live with her gift – before the real beasts in the town savage her and those she has come to love. The first in the Pru Marlowe “pet noir” series.